Hinkle Reservoir pioneers floating cover with 45 year lifetime

quote:

---

The 62 million gallon capacity Hinkle Reservoir in Granite Bay, Calif., provides quality water to more than 265,000 people annually in the Sacramento region. With a surface area of some 12.5 acres, Hinkle was a pioneer in floating reservoir covers since its reconstruction in 1980, and attracted interest from many international civil engineers, municipal administrators and legislators.

Remarkably, the original cover membrane based on DuPont Dow Elastomers Hypalon® chlorosulfonated polyethylene and still in place 25 years later, is expected to last another 20 years, according to recent forensic tests on the material. General manager Jim English, describes the reservoir with its floating cover as "an amazing success and a practical and economical solution" for the San Juan Water District (SJWD)

---

quote:

---

With the initial 25-year warranty on the floating cover nearing expiry, and to assess how well the cover was still performing, the SJWD recently hired an independent contractor to carry out destructive testing on a number of small panels cut from the floating cover membrane based on Hypalon.

---

quote:

---

"The overall integrity of the floating cover has been great," continued O'Bleness. The crew that works at the Hinkle Reservoir has made a number of improvements to the engineering design of the installation, such as adding valves to the surface drains. And the membrane itself has not had any major rip failures. "Primarily the damage we have seen to the membrane has come from kids throwing rocks, or birds pecking," O'Bleness explained. And due to the ease of maintenance of Hypalon, the repairs have been relatively easy to handle.

---